Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,865
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$8,025
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,429
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$47,890
Kept after tax
$39,865
Worth in national money
$39,429
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arizona. The middle earner gets $47,890. That is 37 of 51 states, and about 5.37% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 335 among 491 occupations Arizona publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $47,890, tax leaves $39,865, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $39,429 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- For human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping, Arizona sits in the lower band at $47,890, ranking 37 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 5.37%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 335 of 491 in Arizona places human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping — median $47,890 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $39,865 retained, $39,429 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,090 |
| This salary | $47,890 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $39,865 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,660 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,412 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $46,901 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,918 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,890 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,250 and the ninetieth is $61,090 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $39,865, worked from $47,890. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 335 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,429, the adjusted value of that $47,890 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 335 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $47,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,250 to $61,090. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arizona take-home of $39,865, on $47,890 for work ranking 335 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 335 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $39,429 — the adjusted value of that $47,890 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 335 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,470, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,250 at the bottom tenth to $61,090 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $39,429 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $39,865 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $49,470. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,250 to $61,090) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $39,429 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $39,865 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.